Exodus 20:3
No Other Gods
Allegiance undivided. In an age of competing loyalties — career, comfort, opinion, nation — the first commandment names the fundamental question: what is at the centre of your life? Everything else follows from the answer.
The Ten Commandments: Still Relevant
Jul 23, 2026 • Bible for Life
The Ten Commandments were not given to a people who had earned them. They were given to a people who had just been delivered — freed from slavery before a single command was kept. They are not a ladder to climb but a charter for a redeemed people to live by.
Exodus 20:4-6
No Idols
The prohibition of images is about more than statues. An idol is anything we look to for what only God can provide: ultimate security, identity, meaning. The commandment is startlingly contemporary.
Exodus 20:7
The Name
Taking God's name in vain is not merely profanity. It includes using God's name to give false weight to our words, actions, or causes — attaching his authority to what he has not authorised.
Exodus 20:8-11
The Sabbath
The only commandment explicitly rooted in creation (Genesis 2:2-3). Rest is not a reward for productivity — it is built into the structure of reality. Its persistent neglect in modern life is not neutral; it has consequences for bodies, relationships, and souls.
Exodus 20:12
Honour Your Father and Mother
The first commandment with a promise. Honouring parents is the foundation of social continuity — the recognition that we are not self-made, that we owe debts we cannot repay, and that generational relationships carry moral weight.
Exodus 20:13-17
The Final Five
Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not covet. Five commandments that protect life, marriage, property, truth, and the interior life. Jesus showed they reach far beyond their surface prohibitions — encompassing anger, lust, and desire.